Subtle but Simple

Psychologist John Enright used to call his workshops “hard-nosed permission giving.” He’d give us permission to be ourselves, to choose, to value what we valued.

But he was hard-nosed about it in that he would not accept victim stories, disempowerment and the other binds that tie us that we think of today as “false grids.”

An example of hard-nosed permission giving is Werner Erhard saying, if we wanted to know what our intention was, we had only to look at what we’ve experienced. What we intended is almost always what we end up experiencing. What we choose is what we draw to ourselves.

Not much room there for feeling like a victim.

Nonetheless, I have heard the Company of Heaven say that some events in one person’s life were not in their soul contract – that is, they didn’t bring it to themselves. One could say they were the victim of outside circumstances in that situation.

But the point remains that the smaller the area in which we feel victimized, the greater our sense of personal power, satisfaction, aliveness, etc.

On another occasion Werner said that, if we wanted to be happy, we had only to choose what we have rather than what we don’t have.

For years, I thought he was talking about what the Buddha might have called the cycle of desire. Our constant hankering after what we don’t have is what brings restlessness to the mind. Restlessness of the mind is what denies us peace and prevents us from unveiling the divine qualities that are already ours.

But now I think there was more to Werner’s point.

The really important things that we already and always have are the internal things. Again and again I see that these internal things like aliveness, satisfaction, and completion are the things really worth valuing and the things that are most attractive (and enduringly attractive) to the greatest number of people.

Feeling happy, fulfilled, or loving seems more important than what possessions we may or may not have. How many people know someone who owns a Mazerati and is unhappy? (Well, probably not many, but you know what I mean.)

How can we feel joy when we watch events in the Ukraine? Archangel Michael responds:

“This is a time of joy. And, yes, even amidst the chaos which is the breaking of the ice floes, there is time for joy. And it comes from within you and it comes from outside of you and it swirls all around you. Claim it and claim it for your own.

“Bring it deep within that it may marry the joy within, explode and grow, and then share it with each and every being you meet and even those you don’t.” (1)

The joy that we feel is raising the vibrations of those around us, I think.

Other people, still mired in the jealousy that Archangel Gabrielle spoke about on An Hour with an Angel, (2) want us to feel or respond with anger and hatred, but our insistence on allowing our inner joy to emerge may just turn out to be the most profitable response we can make to the situation.

I see a lot of joy in the people around me. And I’m looking at my own life and saying “Why don’t I have joy?”

And the answer is that I haven’t been choosing it. Joy is an example of what we’ve already got rather than what we don’t have.

It’s always, already there. I just don’t choose it.

The whole thing is so subtle but so simple.

At this moment, I am getting it. And the whole thing seems like a big joke.

Because I’ve held the valuable things as being outside myself, I’ve been hankering for things I don’t have. But when I see that the valuable things are actually inside myself, I also see that I already have them and simply haven’t been choosing them.

What stands between me and my joy are my core issues. When I asked Archangel Michael recently what the direct means of getting at my core issues was, he replied: “Laugh at yourself.” He could also have said joy.

How do I be joyful? Be joyful. The answer is contained in the question.